Steam Beta Suggests 64-Bit Version is Coming

This is going to be a pretty short item here, since the source itself is just a few sentences, but I think some of you might find this a little interesting. After many years of being a 32-bit application, it looks like Valve is making moves to create a 64-bit version of the Steam client. The newest Steam Client Beta (August 8, 2018 specifically) states it is to add support for sending out different 64-bit and 32-bit binaries through the Steam self-updater. "This support is being added in preparation for future updates," so it is coming, but we do not know when.

While it might not seem like Steam is an application that needs some of the more popular features 64-bit processing allows, such as addressing more than 4 GB of memory, there can be other benefits as well. Some processes within Steam might end up running faster but it also might have an easier time working with some 64-bit applications, as not all like having 32-bit applications hook into them. Still, Steam will need to maintain a collection of 32-bit libraries in order to support 32-bit games. The client might migrate but there will be parts that will not.